Auntie on a shoe spree

The three blogs in a day may be explained by the fact that Auntie had not gone to lunch today. Mula tu sbb rasa cam kenyang, pastu sbb sakit pinggang (it's that time of the month) and tak larat nak drive pi beli lunch. Although AH kata kalau balik rumah, ada makanan dan pengurut pinggang, auntie malas la. Dok la kat opis and try baca2 buku sambil blog.

Anyways, oleh sebab menghormati SH yang bersedih last week, auntie tak sampai hati nak blog about trivial things like shoes. But now that that episode is relatively over (or a moratorium being put on it), let's talk about auntie's shoes. Or rather let's look at aunties newly acquired shoes:

"Led" shoe ma...

Iklan kaki

Lawan kaki sape lagi gemuk

My favourite

Sungguh cun.... (I know, my taste is soo.. makcik now)

All-purpose black

More led shoes

Sexy red...NOT!

Harta new year

Koleksi -awal- tahun ini

Of nests and shelters

Since SH has sort of settled her problems quite rationally and are back as twosome again, auntie wants to blog about nests. As in having a place over your head (although for the birds, of course, the nests don't have roofs). Bro1, sleepyhead and yours truly are in different stages of acquiring our nests. Mommy aka non-blogging sister is a veteran in doing so now and is now happily enjoying her nest with family. The non-blogging (not that we know of) brother has been talking about getting a nest but is still living in a borrowed nest (which is a big thorn in some of our sides, but that's another "Brothers & Sisters" kind of blog story).

Of course ma & pa's nest is the place we all crave to be at certain time of the year when things are bit off with the 'togetherness' thing or just when we want to get away from the hustle & bustle of our lives and the location of own nests. Whatever the stage of dilapidation our pa&ma's nest seems to be heading towards, we have no qualms about calling it our home as long as pa&ma are there.

AH also has a very strong attachment to the nest built by his ma&pa. When we first got married, he would find all excuses to be back there, especially when auntie is not around in our borrowed nest. We are now close to two years living in his ma&pa's nest. Auntie loves living there but, of course, it could never truly be our 'couple nest'. So, auntie and AH are looking forward to our new nest, which is just a stone throw away from AH's pa&ma's nest for emergency situation, but far enough away to feel we are in another place. The best part, kalau gaduh, sorang boleh balik rumah mak bapak dia! And it's not going to be auntie :)

Since auntie's nest is not quite ready to take pictures of, here are some pictures of Bro1's and sleepyhead's soon-ready-to-move-in nests:

Mem of the house

Mushu's newly acquired lawn. What

Growing up and heartaches

Part of my vocation and calling is helping women in marital crisis. In such situation, objectivity is an important criteria while not abandoning empathy. But when someone close to you is experiencing the same thing that's happened to the women that you've assisted, it is very difficult to be objective. My first instinct is to tell her, cut your losses and be damned with him. But of course, you have to pull back and be the rational voice for the hurting woman. I'm praying that this is all a big, colossal misunderstanding or that the wally comes to his senses and beg for mercy and forgiveness from her for the next 80 years of their lives. In the mean time, my ears are always open for you, SH.

Of Big Bro's Birthday

Saturday 19th Jan was Blogging Brother aka Bro1's 40th Birthday. Now, that doesn't sound too painful does it? AH celebrated it last year and survived. After this it is all down hill from here. Kekekeke.

Despite thinning hair and hypertension and gout here and there, Bro1 is doing ok for a man of forty. Just acquiring nice "picket-fenced" (though very high and made of steel) property not to mention having luvly, easy-going wife and 4 luvly juvvly kids. Some more, pa and ma is taking him to Mekah in May (well, if the two blogging sisters could successfully beg for free air fares, he may have to fork out his own).

Speaking on behalf of all three sisters auntie wants to say that although we appeared not to listen too much to Bro1's good-intentioned advice at one time or another, we would like to assure him that we do respect and love him. But us three being very stubborn women, we rarely listen to our male relatives (inc spouses) coz we believe women are born superior and are more level-headed. Kekekekeke.

In any case, we wish Bro1 the happiest 40th year of his life and may he lives at least another 40 years. Hope he likes the prezzie (which sleepyhead bought and auntie has not paid her half). Also thanks to Mommy aka non-blogging sister for the lovely sponsorship of those glorious food. Also thanks to all the other bros and sis, in law or otherwise, and nieces and nephews for making the weekend a little bit more than ordinary. Here are some pictures:

sleepyhead the prezzie chooser

"little ayah" wanting to get out and be in the limelight too

Anak bongsu....maybe!

After the food...thinking about more?

A precious moment in time

Another one

Yet another one

PS: Poor Ajmal had a temporary celoreng on his face for being a little bit too rambunctious than usual. To auntie, you are still a handsome tot.

Of kiddies tea party

On Friday after auntie's meeting, auntie took on the role of substitute parent to Qin (aka Princess Analice) and went to Qin's school tea party. Shasha has all the pictures coz auntie didn't have time to take out my camera out of the bag. School has cute pint size toilet bowls and showers and quite impressive facilities. But auntie was not terribly impressed by the speech of the owner/ principal of the school. I will nevertheless reserve judgment on him. Food served was also not really child-friendly though they are very parent friendly. They are child friendly if you consider all the care the parents and child minders have to exercise in order to make sure they won't mess up the kids. Qin was in her elements running up and down the stairs with dole-eyed Aleesya. Auntie had to keep one eye on Qin while having to talk politics with and elderly neighbour of Mommy. But it was good conversation and a very genuine person the 'uncle' is.

Like Kakak, Qin also goes to Lorna Whiston on Sundays for a 2-hour learning of English the more creative way. Qin now can speak a smattering of suspiciously Cockney-sounded English when she has the mood to do so. Auntie must say, she is sweeter (temperament-wise) when she speaks English. When she speaks Malay, she tends to be more bossy. Or is it just auntie's imagination? Maybe because she's better at bullying kakak in Malay. Kakak knows all the words in English.

Since auntie does not have pictures of Qin's school tea party, here are pictures of Qin and her toys:

This is the room where Qin 'torture' everyone to play with her.

Qin posing for auntie. After that she demands: "nak tengok!" Notice one of her lunyai "princesses" in the background

Of meeting famous persons

Auntie has been neglecting blog-writing and blog-reading in the past few days because auntie bersukaria sambil kerja di KL. Anyways, auntie will begin with cerita berjumpa orang femes. On Thursday last week, the previously quite famous Kah Zaharah (aka Kak Teh from kaktehchocablocblog) and her now famous husband, Wan A Hulaimi (aka Awang Goneng aka that person who writes on Trengganuspeak on kecek-kecek) were in auntie's place of work. There were presenting their thoughts on journalism and writing to students in the Comm school. In any case, auntie got to spend half a day with two famous people, at least famous to people who blogs and read blogs (other than blogs of brothers and sisters only). Kalau tak tau, depa ni (Awang Goneng to be specific) has written the Malaysian bestseller "Growing up in Trengganu". here's a picture of the book:




The picture of auntie and the famous persons are sadly somewhere in Samantha's camera. Hopefully, she will one day distribute to the relevant people.

PS: Yes, kat bawah buku tu is a copy of smuggled out IKEA catalogue. kekekekeke.

The luvly juvly hubby formerly known as BB

BB is now a frequent visitor of this blog. Last night he so graciously requested that auntie change his pseudonym. BB sounded so much like the four-legged short pink creature, he said. So auntie tanya nak pseudonym apa. Dia kata AH. AH stands for jeng, jeng, jeng...ABANG HENSEM! So, guys, in deference to my other half, from today BB is no more. To be replaced with AH or UH (Uncle Hensem to the kiddies). Apa-apa je le. Tapi kalau dia tak sedaq auntie maybe akan guna BBH sekali sekala coz BB tu ada sentimental value for auntie.

Last night auntie pekena secawan kecik kopi dari Kuala Kangsar. Penangannya sungguh la kuat sampai hari ni rasa soooo awake. Semalam tak leh tidur so at 3am pi visit sleepyhead's blog. Am hoping sleepyhead is feeling better today about being left by Joe to go to work. And hopefully, a chance at a change of employment that is being spurred by mommy aka the non-blogging sister will make things better for sleepyhead and joe.

Friday, auntie has a meeting in KL and is begging a sleepover at mommy's while auntie waits for another conference on monday and tuesday. Am doing a favour to the employer and the environment by not taking a plane back to Penang on Friday night and then travelling back again to KL on Sunday morning (since conference begins late evening Sunday). Hope my effort is being appreciated. Also, hope mommy and sleepyhead have time for lazy romp eating salmon and baking bread or just lying down gossiping about _ _ _ _ bing and the like.

There are more past photos that auntie didn't have a chance to share with family so I'm putting some of them now. Enjoy.












PS: Tomorrow night auntie may be joining my friend Samantha for dinner with Awang Goneng and Kak Teh - two famous couple bloggers. They are giving talks at the Communication School the next day.
PPS: To posa or not to posa tomorrow?

Of cats and dogs

Semalam BB tengok ada satu gambar anjing ngan kucing dalam Mingguan Malaysia. Anjing to macam large shaggy dog with droopy eyes. Kucing tu comel gebu and letak kepala atas dada anjing yang macam gentle giant gitu. Sorry la could not post the picture in the blog. Susah nak kena scan etc. Anyways, Pastu BB panggil auntie and kata anjing ngan kata kucing tu macam kita duorang (yours truly and him la). Sorang anjing yg so loveable and patient with the kucing and sorang lagi kucing yg ala2 manja tapi ikut suka dia je bila dia dia rasa nak manja. The dog is the patiently waiting partner for scraps of love that the partner-cat would throw at him as she likes. Dia nak kata nasib dia camtu la :). Auntie malas nak argue so auntie gelak jek. Anyways, here are some pictures yang sewaktu dengan yang disebutkan tadi.

Selamat Tahun Baru and selamat berehat

Very restive day today. Auntie posa hari ini. Bukan sebab alim sangat tapi sebab ganti posa yang tertinggal bulan posa lepas. Kena ganti cepat2 sebab kalau lewat selalu lupa berapa hari (yep, despite the palm top, always forgot to record it). Anyways, all kiddies are back in good health again according to mommy and reports from sleepyhead (). Auntie tried to call ichkin just now but she's busy in the shower. I know how 'busy' she can be when she's taking a bath. Auntie has been kiddies' bather since Along's time. Uncle BB is also wanting to talk to Jijin to ask about school. But I guess they were not at home coz nobody pick up the phone. Ayah pun tak pick up his mobile so they must be out gallivanting somewhere.

Anyways, auntie nak gi buka posa dah but auntie is leaving a picture to remind why auntie need to posa some time (other than sebab ganti).





Bye and Awal Muharram Mubarak.

besday and to gaduh or not to gaduh

BB's birthday came and went with couple celebration must intermittent with couple blow-ups. Blow-up details will be recounted offline. Since the idea was to have a quiet eat in, BB's mom cook lauk and masak nasi and we went out to buy extra lauk. First blow up occur after cake and lauk bought so no celebration in the morning just cold-shouldered dining. Later in the evening baru make-up session (nothing juicy, perish the thought!)and so during dinner, we had cake-admiring-cutting-eating. It was tiramisu from the bakery. Quite nice though. Pictures later. Malas nak download.

Celebration continued on Sunday with Auntie taking BB to lunch. Off to Queensbay Mall we went. Mula2 BB nak pi Manhattan Fishmarket but auntie suggested TGIF so voted for that. BB liked the food and had very satisfying meal. there was a value meal offer. Appetiser, entree and desert for RM39.99 each. Not bad considering appertisers consisted of 4 pcs buffalo wings (whole chicken wings cut in two so 8 pcs of chicken altogether, large pieces of celery and generous soft cheese sauce while desert consisted of talk fat portion of mud pie. auntie chose fish and chips for entree and BB chose rack of ribs. ribs were quite nice but a bit dry. service was good and chips and sauces were served in massive portions. Kenyang sampai petang. so, peaceful sunday....NOT. Before tidur ada big blow-up and both went to sleep facing the other way. i know, i know, orang tua kata tak baik couple go to sleep without making peace kalau gaduh but since when do auntie listen to orang tua :) ? to cut this two-day gaduh story short but this evening everything is hunky dory again.

auntie was a bit worried about qin who was admitted to hospital yesterday evening for tummy bug but mommy just 'chat' with auntie that she is now out of hospital. very brave and no nonsense girl. heard that even the nurse was amazed that she didn't shed a tear when being poked with needles for the drip. put uncle BB in her place and he'll be out like a light, pengsan! (ok ok, i shouldn't tell the world about this coz baru jek berbaik2, kang gaduh balik)

anyways, have a good week everyone!

Past pictures

As I mentioned in earlier post (see togetherness and to party or not to party) , there was a decision to be made about whether to celebrate BB's 40++ birthday. Today we have decided that we will put a moratorium on a party. BB feels that he would just like to laze around the house on his birthday and work further on our 'togetherness'. Works for me. In any case, birthdays are not the only reason to party. We can find any reason to do it. And so we will.

I'm posting more pictures today. Old ones though. I'm starting with Alleycats' pictures. We took these when they did a show for the Comm School 35th Celebration end of 2006. Ms Ponti's mom were asking about the photos. I will some day put them on CD and give them to her but I hope in the mean time, if Ms Ponti is reading, she would show them to Kak Z.

The Alleycats guys were such nice sporting people. Here they are:

"Sampaikan la salam cintaku pada nnnyeea...."

"arwah" Loga

K Z queuing for the autog

Pompuan2 plastik di sisi Alleycats

Pompuan2 plastik aka Daks

Babai.

What we did last Sunday

Auntie has been giving too much attention to work and traveling in the last few weeks or so, BB is feeling neglected. (BTW, BB already discovered this blog, so auntie has to mind her ps and qs..a bit). So, olive branch was a Sunday cookout. These were what we did on Sunday:

I tried bread baking many times and had not been too successful. This first attempt in a long time is no difference. The buns looked OK but they were a bit hard so to the birds they went.

The second batch of the dough turned out excellent though. The secret is in recognising whether the yeast has reacted with the warm milk/ water. For about 4 cups of flour, use a tablespoon of instant yeast. Dissolve the yeast in warm milk + 1 tbsp sugar. Wait to see if it bubbles a bit then only add into the flour. Add beaten egg (can also add a tsp of vanilla) and 3 more tbs of sugar. Before adding the liquids add salt to the flour first and make a whole in the flour for the liquid. The salt should not be put in the liquid with the yeast coz it will kill the yeast. Then knead to your heart's content (kalau ada kenwood chef or kitchen aid bagus gak, but kneading with hands has its own rewards, like thinking of someone and how much better he would look with his face punched).

The dough will rise as you knead. Leave for a few hours in a bowl covered with wet cloth. A baker's tip: Don't leave the bowl of dough on a table/ stand that is likely to move (ie one that someone is likely to knock into and make it move).

I left the dough overnight coz after a few hours I checked the dough still did not rise. It must be the yeast coz it had been in the cupboard for sometime. But alhamdulillah, in the morning it rose nicely. Punch the dough and knead a little bit more. Shape and put in tray. Then leave to rise for another half hour or so before baking. It turned out to be crusty on the outside but soft in the inside. It was a little bit cakey and yellowy though, I think, because I added too much egg. It should prolly be only half and egg.

Here's a buttered slice for breakfast. Real delicious, if i may say so meself.


The other project was a fish dinner. We splashed on salmon steaks but because BB's parents were not really into salmon we also prepared dory fish and chips (subs carrot chips for potatoes, though).

There's also pasta salad:

Here are the salmons. Served with baby carrots, fennel, mushrooms, onions and pasta.

BB went to sleep a happy bloke that night. It may be a long time before he gets all this again, though.